Foreclosure fallout: Detroit Houses go for a $1

Foreclosure fallout: Detroit Houses go for a $1

One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit.

The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s
poorest big cities.

And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.

The sale price of the home may be an anomaly, but illustrates both the depths of the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and the rapid scuttling of vacant
homes in some of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.

Believe me if you have been to certain areas in Detroit it could go seriously wrong.

If you enter the address on google maps, there is a street view so you kind of see the house but the trees in the front yard block the view. The
house kitty corner from this one has the windows boarded up so it cant be too good of a neighborhood.

The article states that the house was stripped and looted quite throughly. Probably ripped out all the pipes and wires and such. The cost to put
those back are hardly worth the cost. Would probably need to be torn down.

Sounds ripe for an insurance scam. Get it appraised, and then up in smoke.

Its not a big deal, I have seen pissed off women after a divorce sell their husbands expensive cars for a dollar; just one home doesn' t mean
anything. It was probably one of those cases, because I bet hundreds of homes are selling each day in Detroit for near expected value

This has actually been going on in Detroit for a lot longer than the problems that everyone is talking about now. I remember hearing stories like this
out of Detroit well over a year ago. A lot of houses selling for a few hundred, no more than a few thousand. People just up and walking away from them
when they couldn't sell. No one wants to live where there are no jobs.

A lot of these houses aren't even in bad shape, or in "bad" neighborhoods from what I have heard.

i live in southgate michigan. about 40 minutes from detroit. i work on 8mile which borders detroit and warren. there are alot of neighborhoods that i
would not live in, but i know alot of people who live in decent neighborhoods in Detroit, and only pay $200 house notes.not because the houses are
run-down, but because the towns are. these cities are still a little run down, and there are plenty of boarded up houses, but there are also alot of
well kept homes near those boarded houses. they choose to live there because they grew up there and want these low monthly house notes.but they have
to take the precausions that come with these less then desirable neighborhoods.(bars on windows,and doors, also alarm systems)

Anytime i go to these neighborhoods to visit co-workers i do not feel threatened or fear for my life, but again there are areas where i would.

i would have to say i probably would not have even looked at this house though.

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

I was just looking at about a half-dozen homes in Philly for under $5k each. I didn't even look in Detroit. I wouldn't want to live in Detroit -
who would? It's got one of the worst reputations of any city, I'd steer clear, and I've lived in L.A., NY, Chicago, in some pretty terrible
neighborhoods.

The market sucks, to be sure..unless you're in a purchasing kind of mood. Any developer with spare capital is sure to be wetting themselves at the
prospect. Just look what happened in the gulf coast after the hurricanes. From ghetto to (potentially) prime real estate, and all it took was two
good blows, as the old salts would say.

I suspect it will get worse before it gets better, too, so even more opportunities for predatory home buyers, large and small.

I'm actually really hoping I can pick up a gutted factory on the cheap before this is all over. You never know..and talk about a gold mine if things
ever turn around (loft housing or some such).

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

On to the subject, I would not want to live in Det. if they gave me $10,000 plus a house. With all the mayoral troubles, the crime, etc, no thank
you! I avoid driving on 75 through the city because it bothers me that much.

I used to work on 8 ( or was it 9?) and woodward, right across the street from a peep show place. I bet it's torn down now, but man you should have
seen all the weirdo's coming in and out of that place!

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